


Out of Time

by Syven



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 11:17:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11289639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syven/pseuds/Syven
Summary: Originally written on 03/15/2007.  Set after Book 6.Warnings: AU, Adult content, literary license with time travel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: I had an idea for a story and about half way into writing it, the story split in my mind, giving me two very distinctively different story endings and I struggled to pull them both back but they wouldn't cooperate. I finally gave in and wrote both endings - making two separate but similar stories.

"Weasley!"

Ginny looked up from where she knelt on the Quidditch pitch stuffing her practice bag with the Chudley Cannons jersey she'd just peeled off. The coach had worked them tirelessly all afternoon and the only thing the youngest Weasley cared about right at that moment was dropping by The Leaky for a firewhiskey and an early dinner before falling into bed.

The sweat dripped down her cheek as she squinted against the sunlight in her eyes at the person who'd called her name. Sighing, she said. "Corrina, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Gin?"

"A few more, Weasley." The blonde pitch girl shot back with a grin, stopping in front of the Seeker, planting her hands on her hips.

Standing, Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and gave the girl a wry look. "What did you need?"

"Oh, I don't but you do. There's a messenger here for you." She pointed across the field to a figure standing beside the team club house.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Ginny grimaced. "Corrine, autograph hounds will give you any line to get to the players. You can't just let anyone out here."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. You want for me to take care of this?" The blonde blushed in chagrin.

Waving her off, Ginny started across the field toward the figure. "I'll get it, hon. I know you are anxious to see your sweetie."

"Thanks Weas… Gin!" The pitch girl stammered with a bright smile, waving as she dashed off in the opposite direction.

Ginny shifted the heavy bag of gear on her shoulder as she trudged across the field, her trademark scarlet hair pulled back in a long ponytail. It took her two minutes to cross the distance and she shouldered her bag up a hitch as she came to a stop before the nondescript young man. 

The war had ended with a rather melodramatic pop two years earlier and Ginny had taken all of a heartbeat to consider the recruitment letter from the Cannons after spending four years working with the Order and fighting alongside her family. Harry, Hermione and Ron had disappeared for a year tracking down horcruxes and when they returned, the Boy Who Lived and the Girl Who Waited realized that what they'd felt was a childhood crush fostered by combat and close friendship. They'd easily made the transition back to friendship with nary a hitch and remained close despite the traveling that Ginny did with the Cannons and Harry did as an Auror.

One thing she'd carried away from the war was a caution for strangers and that caution had wormed its way into her habits. Looking over the young man holding a small box, Ginny stopped five feet away and nodded toward it. "That for me?"

"Yes, ma'am. Delivery order says to deliver on the 5th of May, 2005, to one Miss Ginevra Molly Weasley care of the Chudley Cannons. That'd be you, ma'am." The delivery boy read off a small, wrinkled note card which he stuffed back into his pocket.

Ginny frowned. "What do you mean… 2005?"

"Just what it says on the card, ma'am. Right too, mind ya. Dis here box been sitting in the warehouse fer as long as I kin remember." 

A small chill ran over her body as her gaze dropped to the unmarked box once more. "Put it on the ground and back away."

"But ma'am…"

Her wand was in her hand and she used it to gesture that he should put the box down. "I can check it for dark magic in your hands or on the ground. Makes no difference to me."

The delivery boy bent over and placed the box on the ground quickly, scrambling away from it as she began intoning an incantation but nothing happened when the spell ended and Ginny tucked her wand behind her ear with a look of intense curiosity. "You have something for me to sign?"

"Yes, ma'am." He drew out a piece of parchment hurriedly and handed her a quill which she used to scribble her signature, all the while her focus remained on the mysterious little box.

"Does it say there who sent it?" She asked, dropping her gear bag to the ground now and crouching beside the box, giving it a poke with her finger. 

The delivery man turned his card over and shrugged. "Just says RL and a date but…"

"But what?" Ginny looked up, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, ma'am, the date of receipt for delivery is the 31th of December, 1970."

"That's impossible. I wasn't even born yet. How would… are you sure the name is correct?" Ginny puzzled, picking up the box and standing. It was latched with a tiny lock and no other visible means to open the box. She touched her finger to the lock, contemplating it and it made a tiny clicking noise. Her gaze fluttered to the delivery man who held the card out to her. She could plainly see her full given name and the date of receipt just as the boy had said. Gesturing in a half wave, she said. "Okay, thanks."

Absently picking up her bag, she lifted it over her shoulder and curled the box against her stomach as she crossed the disapparation wardline and disapparated to her London flat. Setting the box on her coffee table, Ginny tossed her bag under the coat pegs by the front door and headed down the corridor to the bathroom where she took a long, hot shower thinking about the box. 

Pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, Ginny wrapped her long, auburn hair in a towel and padded barefoot through her small studio kitchen, grabbing a butterbeer from her refrigerator on her way to the living room where she flopped into the chair. Leaning forward, she picked up the box and accio'd her wand, using it to perform a quick drying charm on her hair before tucking it into her back pocket. 

With a resigned sigh, Ginny tried the lock and found it opened under her touch without hesitation and she lifted the lid cautiously to peer inside. There in a bed of emerald green velvet lay a small pendant made up of interlocking rings of different sizes attached in opposing directions. Peering closely, she could make out the golden script that wound around the device on every conceivable surface but she could not make out what it said. 

Lifting the pendant from the box, her eyes fell on the small scrap of paper that had rested beneath it and she pulled it out immediately, unfolding the aged parchment carefully. A small gasp broke the silence of the flat as she read the neat, masculine script that was on the paper.

_I never stopped loving you._

_Yours in eternity,  
R.L._

She did not recognize the handwriting and had no idea what the writer could possibly mean but her cinnamon gaze was drawn to the two initials and, inexplicably, her heart felt a pang of loss and sorrow. Blinking she closed her eyes and opened them again, feeling yet again the mysterious sorrow as if she'd lost something she didn't even know she'd had.

Setting the pendant on the table, she retrieved socks and her boots from her bedroom, pulling them on and tying her hair back once more before tugging on her denim jacket. Giving her wand a reassuring pat where it sat in her back pocket, she leaned over and picked up the pendant intending to bring it to Hermione to see if she knew what it was. The female member of the famed Golden Trio worked as a charm breaker with Bill Weasley and remained a close family friend.

Lifting the chain over her neck, she dropped the pendant down the front of her T-shirt and, before she could react, watched as her living room ghosted away, turning into a flicker of lights and movement that subtly shifted into darkness before clearing once more in a blur.

By the time the world solidified around her, Ginny had her wand drawn and was in a semi-crouched stance of alert but the young witch was completely unprepared to find herself knee-deep in a snow-covered forest after dark. The soft crunch of snow in the distance made her spin on her heel, bringing her wand up but it jerked roughly from her grasp and disappeared into the darkness. Ginny turned to run but a single word stopped her in her tracks. 

"Please." The deep, pleading tone of a man carried across the distance and he stepped into the moonlit clearing. Ginny gasped in horror, staggering backwards awkwardly in the deep snow and stumbled, falling backwards at the sight of him. Not even the anguished look on his face stopped her from pressing her hand to her mouth as he strode toward her, his black cloak billowing ominously behind him. She'd seen his picture in the Prophet only a day earlier when they'd reported on his mysterious death in Azkaban and yet, here he was, impossibly alive and looking years younger.

Any words she might have spoken froze in her throat as he knelt beside her, reaching a hand out to her, his green eyes begging silently as he whispered. "Ginevra… I hoped… Merlin, I hoped you would come… Please… I must…" He choked on his words as he curled his hands around her arms, pulling her into a tight, crushing embrace, his hands stroking her hair and back as he rocked her.

The bone-rending fear that had gripped her since she laid eyes on him loosened at the bizarre embrace and Ginny lifted her hands to press against his chest but he gave no quarter, groaning instead at the accidental caress. With great effort, Ginny managed to hiss. "Let go of me, you… you… _Rodolphus Lestrange!_ What that hell do you want with me? Where the hell am I?"

He eased his clutch on her just the smallest amount to catch her lips in a fierce, hungry kiss, his hand firmly cupping her head as he insistently parted her lips, groaning into her mouth as his tongue sought out her own. The groan made her head spin as he deftly deepened the kiss with unrestrained passion and she found herself responding. He clutched her harder to him at her surrender, slipping his free hand beneath the edge of her T-shirt to stroke across the skin of her back with deep, bone-shaking moans. He drank her in like a man who was dying of thirst and when he finally drew back, she was shaking.

Haunting green eyes watched her from behind lazily hooded eyelids with a sharp intensity that made her shiver harder and he cursed, pulling his cloak off with one hand and wrapping it around her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I just… Merlin, I need you so much. I had to risk it. I had to… I know you're confused, my love, but please, please try to believe me, I could not hurt you."

"You are… Rodolphus Lestrange." Her lips throbbed sharply and her breath came in short, shallow bursts but Ginny couldn't look away from his gaze and he nodded, solemnly. 

He stated with absolute confidence, shaking his head in agreement. "I am Rodolphus Lestrange and you are Ginevra Weasley and I have pulled you out of time."

"That is the craziest… I don't know you! What the he…" Her words were cut off by another kiss, forcefully languid and searching this time as he lifted her into his lap straddling his hips and his hand slipped beneath the waistband of her jeans as he fit her body against his. 

His fingers stroked and caressed across the rise of her bottom until finally, he said, pressing his fingers into her skin softly. "You have a birthmark, just here."

"How did you kn… Merlin! Would you stop kissing me for a minute here? I'm trying to think!" She stammered, feeling a wave of the surreal wash over her as her body responded with piercing desire to the Death Eater's very deliberate ministrations. 

"I'm sorry, my darling, I know you don't understand yet. I'm sorry… I just… it's been so long and I've missed you so much… I need you…" He groaned, pressing his lips to her throat as he tugged at her T-shirt. 

Every word he uttered only frightened her more but every touch he pressed to her made her dizzy with a want she'd never felt before. She gasped against his lips as his hand slipped under her bra and closed over her breast, kneading firmly as he moaned and deepened the kiss. A cold wind whipped through the clearing and Ginny pulled back from the kiss with a sharp inhalation of breath, the fog clearing from her eyes as she pulled herself back to reality. "Snow. We're in the snow…"

"I need…"

"Yes, I know. You need me but please, not out here." Ginny pleaded softly, the fear tripping over her like a bucket of cold water. "Your wife…"

"That psychotic demoness is with her master and she is _not_ my wife." He purred against the hollow of her throat, his arms like steel bands holding her trapped against him and she barely registered the shift as he disapparated them both onto the wooden floor of a small, firelight cabin. He'd relaxed his hold on her during the disapparation and Ginny pulled free the second they apparated, running to the door only to stop short as her gaze raked across the photographs on the wall beside it.

The magical images showed the petite, smiling redhead holding up the Quidditch Cup proudly and the image jostled as the person holding the camera gave it to someone else and entered the photo. Putting his arm around the redhead, an older Rodolphus Lestrange kissed her forehead reverently and waved awkwardly at the camera.

A horrified chill ran down her body and she backed away as her gaze fell upon another and another, the pictures hung with care in the entryway. She backed into him and his hands dropped on her shoulders as his voice came softly. "We are out of time, my love. That future will never happen if you do not help me."

"I don't… I don't understand… I don't _know_ you… We aren't…" Ginny turned, looking up at him in fearful confusion.

Cupping her chin firmly, he bent his head and brushed his lips against hers softly at first, then with determined insistence as she began to respond, turning her in his arms as he deepened the kiss. He finally broke it with a shudder, green eyes searching for some hope of recognition in her dazed amber gaze. "We are. You do. But not anymore. Something happened… something shifted the timeline and all this…" He gestured to the pictures on the walls. "… all that is us was forfeit. It was a small change, only enough to alter small things… one of which was our future. It took a great deal of effort to rescue these before the timeline collapsed entirely but I had to…"

"When is that?" Ginny's eyes were drawn back to the image. 

"2007. The Chudley Cannons win the Quidditch Cup when Ginevra Lestrange catches the snitch in the first day of play against the Bulgarians. They had parties in the streets of Diagon Alley for a week." There was a quiet, strong pride in his voice and he brushed the back of his hand across her cheek. 

"And then seven days later, you were gone… I came home and watched…" His voice caught raggedly and he tightened his grip on her. "the brush I gave you on our honeymoon… the book you found for me in Tibet… when our wedding photo disappeared before my eyes, I gathered the rest and dug out the box of my belongings from the first war and I used the time turner." He lifted the pendant from beneath her shirt, brushing its surface thoughtfully before his gaze darted back to her face.

Ginny frowned, her fear of the man seeping away as he spoke, the sound of his voice hauntingly familiar and comforting. Stabbing a finger in the direction of the wall of photos, she hissed. "That picture is flat out _impossible_. You _died_ yesterday!"

"Merlin, I missed you so much… I'd almost forgotten the fire in your eyes…" He murmured softly, stroking the hair back from her face. "It's been two years… reliving another man's life… spending every waking moment traveling the timeline to find you… to find the mistake and get you back. It was only yesterday that I stumbled upon it and… when I attempted to find you again in your future, to tell you - I could not move past the 5th of May in the year 2005. That is when I went to the past and sent the second turner to you."

"Because you died…" She whispered in disbelief, her eyes sharpening suddenly as a thought flashed to her. "You're lying. That timeline was wrong and someone fixed it! You are just trying to save yourself from what you've done."

Curling his hand around her wrist, he drew her forcefully into the living area and across the floor to the fireplace. There on the mantle were two photos. One was a clipping from the Daily Prophet and it showed a very dirty, bedraggled Rodolphus being lead by the hand by a Ginny who looked no different than she did now. The headlines below read _"New Evidence Clears Infamous Death Eater of Torture Charges"_. 

The small piece of article below briefly touched on the work of Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom to uncover the truth behind some of the most infamous Death Eater attacks ever known. Ginny's gaze flew down the article, her eyes widening in surprise as she read what they'd discovered and _when_. This other version of herself had stepped forward to take responsibility for the Lestrange man after it was deemed that he'd served his penance for his association with the Dark Lord and his deceased, insane wife. The date on the photograph was the 30th of May, 2005.

The second photo was one of Ginny not long after the first, in her Chudley Cannon's gear, leaning on her broom as she smiled brightly for the camera, a golden snitch flitting around her, goggles resting on her head. After a moment, her picture self nodded shyly and held up her hand to show off the diamond ring that adorned it, blushing as she did. Across the photo, she'd written a short message in large, black letters. _Yours in eternity, Ginevra._ In the photo, there was something else… the unmistakable pendant that hung from her neck now.

"You saved me from a fate worse than death, Ginevra, and opened your heart to me… someone who deserved nothing… certainly not the love of a beautiful woman half his age. But I didn't make that happen, my darling. You did." He purred against her cheek, slipping his hand beneath her T-shirt to curl around her waist. 

"Ms. Granger found my turner and thought it inoperable but you came to me, in my cell, half-mad with loneliness and despair. I gave you the code you sought, willingly, almost going mad at the sound of your beautiful voice. I would have done anything to get you to speak another word…" His voice caught and he shivered in a memory.

Ginny turned to him, the frown deepening. "You are not the man in the pictures. You are too young…"

"That me is gone now. I traveled back to meet myself in the past, in this past, I was able to convince myself before I… before he, too, faded away." He sighed, threading his fingers through her hair.

Shaking her head in confusion, Ginny pulled back. "But these memories… how do you…"

"Want you? Need you? Know that my heart calls to yours?" He pleaded, pulling her back against his body. "I did something even more forbidden then meeting myself. I touched myself before I was lost to time. All my memories and all the memories of this me, they merged somehow… melded together in a painful flash and I wasn't sure I wasn't just going mad, that I hadn't imagined you, made you up in my mind… but then you appeared in the snow and I _knew_ … I _felt_ you."

Ginny blinked, trying desperately to understand what he was saying and trying even harder to remember what Hermione had said about time paradoxes. "How far back did you bring me?"

"The date is June 23th, 1995, my darling." He answered, sliding his hand beneath her T-shirt, his eyes closing as he caressed her skin. "Sweet Merlin, your skin is so soft… I thought I'd been imaging how soft it had been but I didn't even come close."

Struggling to keep her mind focused, Ginny persisted. "But how do I know this… this… timeline of yours is the right one?"

"What did you feel when you saw my note, in the box?" Rodolphus asked, brushing his lips across the plane of her cheek to her ear. "How do you feel now?"

"Sorrow… like I'd lost something import…" Her eyes widened, her gaze darting up to meet his darkened green eyes as he watched her puzzle it out. Her voice had a touch of breathlessness to it. "Confused… intense longing… None of this makes sense. If that future didn't happen how can I still…"

"Still remember my touch? Before… before I lost you… two days before you disappeared, you said something - You said you'd known me from the first when you saw me in my cell and that you'd always know me. That we belonged to each other in eternity." There was a quiet restraint to his tone and she knew without a doubt that he was choking back tears. "Yours in eternity… You signed everything to me that way. You believed it… you believe it so much, through everything and when everything began to fall apart, it was all I could think of. It became my lifeline."

Brushing his hair back, Ginny was overcome by the sadness in his voice and, without thought, pressed a soft kiss to his lips, threading her fingers into his curly, raven hair as his arms tightened around her. The thoughts racing through her mind slowed at the silken caress of his lips parting beneath hers and faded away at the hot, velvet sweep of his tongue on hers, stroking and exploring with a building hunger. 

The warm press of his hand curled around the back of her neck when her hand drifted down to his chest, slipping beneath the v collar of his black button-down shirt. He moaned deeply when her fingers found the first button and tugged it free, fingertips gently exploring the dark curls that peppered the cleft of his chest as she continued to free the buttons from their minute prisons. A deep growl rumbled up from within him when she tugged the tails of his shirt loose and ran her hands up his stomach and along his tightly muscled back. 

His hand caught hers when it played across the buckle of his belt and he pulled back from their kiss, green eyes dark and heavy lidded with desire. The effort it took for him to speak was clearly evident in the thick, deep tone of his voice. "I don't… I don't want your pity. I want _my wife_."

Ginny met his unwavering stare and, after a moment filled only with the sound of their labored breathing, made the decision that would change her life forever. Her gaze fluttered down to his lips and back up again. "I'm right here."

"Ginevra… darling…" Rodolphus growled, his fiercely stern countenance crumbling with sheer relief at her words as he disapparated them both to a small loft bedroom. The tiny diamond shaped window by the bed overlooked the snow covered forest below and the pictures adored the walls here as well. A small trunk lay beside the bed and a half filled glass of water rested beside a burning candle. On the trunk lay a curled up golden snitch and Ginny's gaze was drawn to it, a frown playing across her forehead even as he banished their clothes with a husky murmur against the hollow of her throat.

"Snitch…" She whimpered, caressing the broad plane of his back as he guided her down to the mattress and settled along the line of her body, holding himself above her, she looked up and saw his eyes squeezed shut and she lifted her hand to stroke his cheek. "Rodolphus?"

He didn't move and Ginny stretched up to brush her lips across his and that broke the reverie he was caught in, returning her kiss as he set himself against her core with a broken groan, pushing inside her with a firm thrust. She gasped against his lips at the tight, aching fullness and moaned as he curled his hips to hers once more. He slipped a hand beneath her waist and lowered himself to his elbow, catching her mouth in a deep, wet kiss as he thrust himself inside her in hard, shuddering strokes. Breaking the kiss, his voice tense and tightly leashed, he said. "Say it again… please… my name…"

"Rodolphus, darling." Ginny whimpered, overcome with the sensation of completeness that she'd never felt with either of her two previous lovers. The cool edge of the time turner rolled around her neck and Ginny reached up to tug it off but he stopped her, his much larger hand curling over hers with a look of stark fear in his eyes.

"You can't take it off here. I'll…" He sheathed himself to the hilt inside her and held there as he lowered his forehead to hers. "I'll lose you again and I can't… Merlin, Ginevra…" Ginny curled her leg over the back of his thigh, throwing her head back when the rough pad of his thumb found her clit, stroking in rhythm with his thrusts as they came faster, driving her panting over the edge and he followed in three hard strokes.

Easing his weight down onto his elbow, Rodolphus gently caressed her cheek until she opened her eyes and blinked through the fog, smiling softly at him. "That was…"

He touched her lips, stopping her from continuing. "I know I'm not man you fall in love with, Ginevra."

"Oh, I don't know…" Ginny pressed a kiss to the palm of his hand. "I like to think I'm always right and the handwriting on that picture is mine so, by that logic, you are."

He shifted, tugging her onto her side as he settled beside her, pulling the quilt up around them both and easing her into a tight embrace. "Stay, please."

"When will the turner reset?" Ginny asked softly, fingering the odd device as she held it up between them.

Green eyes searched her features before he answered, choosing his words carefully. "It won't. You have to set the next coordinates by hand."

"You said you found the… problem, the change. Shouldn't you tell me what it is and when so I can…" Ginny changed tactics, sensing there was more to what he wasn't saying than what he was. Her gaze fell away as she became lost in thought, the date he'd told her earlier nagging at her now that the distraction of his touch was not blinding her to everything else. "You said… today's date was…"

Rodolphus nodded, brushing her hair back from her face. "June 23th." 

"1995… That's the day before we, I mean, Dumbledore's Army, we went to the Department of Mysteries. The day before Bellatrix pushed Sirius into the Veil. We walked into an ambush." Ginny's cinnamon gaze was sharp as it rose to meet his and he nodded.

"The Dark Lord… he has ordered me to…" He shivered, pulling her closer, stroking her hair and cheek with a trembling hand. 

"To kill me. That's what happened. A small thing indeed. I was remarkable only in my ability to be noticed at all back then." Ginny shook her head in amazement. "Even if you failed… oh sweet Merlin… you did, didn't you? You've traveled this line before. You must have to have seen what actually happened. You failed on purpose but I'd seen you and wouldn't trust you."

He nodded solemnly. "I've tried not going but the demoness always finds me and forces me to go. I've tried killing her and the timeline became an unimaginable nightmare."

"I'll stop you. Me, this me." Ginny decided quickly. "It's the only way."

They dressed in silence, he watched soberly as she explored the cabin, taking in each photograph without a word before returning to where he waited by the fireplace. "I'm ready."

"If this… Ginevra, I will wait for you. Always." He murmured against her lips, clutching her tightly. "Yours…"

"In eternity." She nodded and disapparated to the alley behind the Ministry. It took a great deal of patience to slip into the phone booth without being seen but after nearly two hours, she managed and made her way down to the Department of Mysteries, finding a hiding place amongst the crates of artifacts in the Time Room. Watching the clocks, this older version of herself thought back to that infamous night with a strong sense of irony knowing if she succeeded, she would not even remember.

Voices came in the corridor finally and she crouched back cautiously, catching her lip when she saw the raven-haired wizard step into the room, his back to her and the shouting began. Ginny once again heard Harry's defiant words and her own, younger self, shouting that she'd hurt her ankle. When Rodolphus moved to leave, Ginny leveled her wand on him, stunning him and used a bind spell to hold him as she rolled his unconscious self beneath the curio cabinet.

Lifting the turner from her neck, she looked down once more at the older wizard, brushing her fingertips across his lips as she set the turner beneath the heel of her boot, whispering, "Eternity" as she pressed her foot down, crushing the device.

"Weasley!"

Ginny looked up from where she knelt on the Quidditch pitch stuffing her practice bag with the Chudley Cannons jersey she'd just peeled off. The coach had worked them tirelessly all afternoon and the only thing the youngest Weasley cared about right at that moment was dropping by The Leaky for a firewhiskey and an early dinner before falling into bed.

The sweat dripped down her cheek as she squinted against the sunlight in her eyes at the person who'd called her name. Sighing, she said. "Corrina, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Gin?"

"A few more, Weasley." The blonde pitch girl shot back with a grin, stopping in front of the Seeker, planting her hands on her hips.

Standing, Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and gave the girl a wry look. "What did you need?"

"Oh, I don't but you do. Your husband is here." She pointed across the field to a figure standing beside the team club house with a knowing smirk.

Ginny looked up, a brilliant smile flashing across her lips. "Can you drop my gear in the clubhouse for me, love?" 

"Sure. Go on, you silly thing. Merlin, you'd never know you two have been married for a year. Like a couple of teenagers, really." The blonde shook her head in disbelief as the redhead took off running across the pitch.

Breathless, Ginny fell into her husband's smiling embrace happily, purring. "Rodolphus! I didn't think I'd see you until dinner! "

"I was in a meeting and I just had the sense of… something strange. As if something had happened and I realized how long it had been since we'd just slipped away in the middle of the afternoon so I thought I would come kidnap you away for a picnic, my love." He replied softly, his green eyes twinkling mischievously for a moment before he swung her up into his arms. Pressing a kiss to her lips, he disapparated them away before any passerby could read the headline of the Daily Prophet that was sticking out of his cloak pocket.

_"Second Anniversary of Chudley Cannon's famed Seeker Stepping Forward to Claim Guardianship over Infamous Reformed Death Eater, Rodolophus Lestrange. The Unusual Pair Will Celebrate Their First Wedding Anniversary Later This Week!"_


	2. Out of Time Alternate Version

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Version of Out of Time / Slight difference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: I had an idea for a story and about half way into writing it, the story split in my mind, giving me two very distinctively different story endings and I struggled to pull them both back but they wouldn't cooperate. I finally gave in and wrote both endings - making two separate but similar stories.

"Weasley!"

Ginny looked up from where she knelt on the Quidditch pitch stuffing her practice bag with the Chudley Cannons jersey she'd just peeled off. The coach had worked them tirelessly all afternoon and the only thing the youngest Weasley cared about right at that moment was dropping by The Leaky for a firewhiskey and an early dinner before falling into bed.

The sweat dripped down her cheek as she squinted against the sunlight in her eyes at the person who'd called her name. Sighing, she said. "Corrina, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Gin?"

"A few more, Weasley." The blonde pitch girl shot back with a grin, stopping in front of the Seeker, planting her hands on her hips.

Standing, Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and gave the girl a wry look. "What did you need?"

"Oh, I don't but you do. There's a messenger here for you." She pointed across the field to a figure standing beside the team club house.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Ginny grimaced. "Corrine, autograph hounds will give you any line to get to the players. You can't just let anyone out here."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. You want for me to take care of this?" The blonde blushed in chagrin.

Waving her off, Ginny started across the field toward the figure. "I'll get it, hon. I know you are anxious to see your sweetie."

"Thanks Weas… Gin!" The pitch girl stammered with a bright smile, waving as she dashed off in the opposite direction.

Ginny shifted the heavy bag of gear on her shoulder as she trudged across the field, her trademark scarlet hair pulled back in a long ponytail. It took her two minutes to cross the distance and she shouldered her bag up a hitch as she came to a stop before the nondescript young man. 

The war had ended with a rather melodramatic pop two years earlier and Ginny had taken all of a heartbeat to consider the recruitment letter from the Cannons after spending four years working with the Order and fighting alongside her family. Harry, Hermione and Ron had disappeared for a year tracking down horcruxes and when they returned, the Boy Who Lived and the Girl Who Waited realized that what they'd felt was a childhood crush fostered by combat and close friendship. They'd easily made the transition back to friendship with nary a hitch and remained close despite the traveling that Ginny did with the Cannons and Harry did as an Auror.

One thing she'd carried away from the war was a caution for strangers and that caution had wormed its way into her habits. Looking over the young man holding a small box, Ginny stopped five feet away and nodded toward it. "That for me?"

"Yes, ma'am. Delivery order says to deliver on the 5th of May, 2005, to one Miss Ginevra Molly Weasley care of the Chudley Cannons. That'd be you, ma'am." The delivery boy read off a small, wrinkled note card which he stuffed back into his pocket.

Ginny frowned. "What do you mean… 2005?"

"Just what it says on the card, ma'am. Right too, mind ya. Dis here box been sitting in the warehouse fer as long as I kin remember." 

A small chill ran over her body as her gaze dropped to the unmarked box once more. "Put it on the ground and back away."

"But ma'am…"

Her wand was in her hand and she used it to gesture that he should put the box down. "I can check it for dark magic in your hands or on the ground. Makes no difference to me."

The delivery boy bent over and placed the box on the ground quickly, scrambling away from it as she began intoning an incantation but nothing happened when the spell ended and Ginny tucked her wand behind her ear with a look of intense curiosity. "You have something for me to sign?"

"Yes, ma'am." He drew out a piece of parchment hurriedly and handed her a quill which she used to scribble her signature, all the while her focus remained on the mysterious little box.

"Does it say there who sent it?" She asked, dropping her gear bag to the ground now and crouching beside the box, giving it a poke with her finger. 

The delivery man turned his card over and shrugged. "Just says RL and a date but…"

"But what?" Ginny looked up, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, ma'am, the date of receipt for delivery is the 31th of December, 1970."

"That's impossible. I wasn't even born yet. How would… are you sure the name is correct?" Ginny puzzled, picking up the box and standing. It was latched with a tiny lock and no other visible means to open the box. She touched her finger to the lock, contemplating it and it made a tiny clicking noise. Her gaze fluttered to the delivery man who held the card out to her. She could plainly see her full given name and the date of receipt just as the boy had said. Gesturing in a half wave, she said. "Okay, thanks."

Absently picking up her bag, she lifted it over her shoulder and curled the box against her stomach as she crossed the disapparation wardline and disapparated to her London flat. Setting the box on her coffee table, Ginny tossed her bag under the coat pegs by the front door and headed down the corridor to the bathroom where she took a long, hot shower thinking about the box. 

Pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, Ginny wrapped her long, auburn hair in a towel and padded barefoot through her small studio kitchen, grabbing a butterbeer from her refrigerator on her way to the living room where she flopped into the chair. Leaning forward, she picked up the box and accio'd her wand, using it to perform a quick drying charm on her hair before tucking it into her back pocket. 

With a resigned sigh, Ginny tried the lock and found it opened under her touch without hesitation and she lifted the lid cautiously to peer inside. There in a bed of emerald green velvet lay a small pendant made up of interlocking rings of different sizes attached in opposing directions. Peering closely, she could make out the golden script that wound around the device on every conceivable surface but she could not make out what it said. 

Lifting the pendant from the box, her eyes fell on the small scrap of paper that had rested beneath it and she pulled it out immediately, unfolding the aged parchment carefully. A small gasp broke the silence of the flat as she read the neat, masculine script that was on the paper.

_I never stopped loving you._

_Yours in eternity,  
R.L._

She did not recognize the handwriting and had no idea what the writer could possibly mean but her cinnamon gaze was drawn to the two initials and, inexplicably, her heart felt a pang of loss and sorrow. Blinking she closed her eyes and opened them again, feeling yet again the mysterious sorrow as if she'd lost something she didn't even know she'd had.

Setting the pendant on the table, she retrieved socks and her boots from her bedroom, pulling them on and tying her hair back once more before tugging on her denim jacket. Giving her wand a reassuring pat where it sat in her back pocket, she leaned over and picked up the pendant intending to bring it to Hermione to see if she knew what it was. The female member of the famed Golden Trio worked as a charm breaker with Bill Weasley and remained a close family friend.

Lifting the chain over her neck, she dropped the pendant down the front of her T-shirt and, before she could react, watched as her living room ghosted away, turning into a flicker of lights and movement that subtly shifted into darkness before clearing once more in a blur.

By the time the world solidified around her, Ginny had her wand drawn and was in a semi-crouched stance of alert but the young witch was completely unprepared to find herself knee-deep in a snow-covered forest after dark. The soft crunch of snow in the distance made her spin on her heel, bringing her wand up but it jerked roughly from her grasp and disappeared into the darkness. Ginny turned to run but a single word stopped her in her tracks. 

"Please." The deep, pleading tone of a man carried across the distance and he stepped into the moonlit clearing. Ginny gasped in horror, staggering backwards awkwardly in the deep snow and stumbled, falling backwards at the sight of him. Not even the anguished look on his face stopped her from pressing her hand to her mouth as he strode toward her, his black cloak billowing ominously behind him. She'd seen his picture in the Prophet only a day earlier when they'd reported on his mysterious death in Azkaban and yet, here he was, impossibly alive and looking years younger.

Any words she might have spoken froze in her throat as he knelt beside her, reaching a hand out to her, his green eyes begging silently as he whispered. "Ginevra… I hoped… Merlin, I hoped you would come… Please… I must…" He choked on his words as he curled his hands around her arms, pulling her into a tight, crushing embrace, his hands stroking her hair and back as he rocked her.

The bone-rending fear that had gripped her since she laid eyes on him loosened at the bizarre embrace and Ginny lifted her hands to press against his chest but he gave no quarter, groaning instead at the accidental caress. With great effort, Ginny managed to hiss. "Let go of me, you… you… _Rodolphus Lestrange!_ What that hell do you want with me? Where the hell am I?"

He eased his clutch on her just the smallest amount to catch her lips in a fierce, hungry kiss, his hand firmly cupping her head as he insistently parted her lips, groaning into her mouth as his tongue sought out her own. The groan made her head spin as he deftly deepened the kiss with unrestrained passion and she found herself responding. He clutched her harder to him at her surrender, slipping his free hand beneath the edge of her T-shirt to stroke across the skin of her back with deep, bone-shaking moans. He drank her in like a man who was dying of thirst and when he finally drew back, she was shaking.

Haunting green eyes watched her from behind lazily hooded eyelids with a sharp intensity that made her shiver harder and he cursed, pulling his cloak off with one hand and wrapping it around her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I just… Merlin, I need you so much. I had to risk it. I had to… I know you're confused, my love, but please, please try to believe me, I could not hurt you."

"You are… Rodolphus Lestrange." Her lips throbbed sharply and her breath came in short, shallow bursts but Ginny couldn't look away from his gaze and he nodded, solemnly. 

He stated with absolute confidence, shaking his head in agreement. "I am Rodolphus Lestrange and you are Ginevra Weasley and I have pulled you out of time."

"That is the craziest… I don't know you! What the he…" Her words were cut off by another kiss, forcefully languid and searching this time as he lifted her into his lap straddling his hips and his hand slipped beneath the waistband of her jeans as he fit her body against his. 

His fingers stroked and caressed across the rise of her bottom until finally, he said, pressing his fingers into her skin softly. "You have a birthmark, just here."

"How did you kn… Merlin! Would you stop kissing me for a minute here? I'm trying to think!" She stammered, feeling a wave of the surreal wash over her as her body responded with piercing desire to the Death Eater's very deliberate ministrations. 

"I'm sorry, my darling, I know you don't understand yet. I'm sorry… I just… it's been so long and I've missed you so much… I need you…" He groaned, pressing his lips to her throat as he tugged at her T-shirt. 

Every word he uttered only frightened her more but every touch he pressed to her made her dizzy with a want she'd never felt before. She gasped against his lips as his hand slipped under her bra and closed over her breast, kneading firmly as he moaned and deepened the kiss. A cold wind whipped through the clearing and Ginny pulled back from the kiss with a sharp inhalation of breath, the fog clearing from her eyes as she pulled herself back to reality. "Snow. We're in the snow…"

"I need…"

"Yes, I know. You need me but please, not out here." Ginny pleaded softly, the fear tripping over her like a bucket of cold water. "Your wife…"

"That psychotic demoness is with her master and she is _not_ my wife." He purred against the hollow of her throat, his arms like steel bands holding her trapped against him and she barely registered the shift as he disapparated them both onto the wooden floor of a small, firelight cabin. 

He'd relaxed his hold on her during the disapparation and Ginny pulled free the second they apparated, running to the door but he caught her there, pushing her against the door as he trapped her wrists together above her head in one hand. 

Using his body to brace her, he slipped his free hand beneath her T-shirt, pushing her bra up as his hand covered her breast once more. "No, my love, I cannot let you go yet… not until you understand."

"You're mad. Stark raving mad if you think I'm going to…" She whimpered as he ground himself against her hips, growling against her throat where he was lavishing wet, nibbling kisses. 

Green eyes glinted darkly with undisguised desire and he cupped her chin firmly, forcing her to meet his gaze. "On December 14th of the year 2006, you accompany Hermione Granger to the Hall of Mysteries where she is sorting through a box of possessions. Possession of Death Eaters who died in Azkaban. In it, you find the time turner and she believes it to be inoperable but you… you are curious and you take it home with you."

"You discover the concealed pin that holds the device in time and you travel back. But what you do not know is that the device is mine. That it only works on my lifeline and when you appear, quite like a fiery angel in my seven year old self's garden, you do not know who I am." He let go of her jaw and ran his hand down the length of her neck, curling it beneath her hair as he bent to kiss her once more, firm and directing, wet and deep, his tongue taking possession with deft familiarity. 

Dizzy from his unrelenting onslaught, she stammered out a breathless question. "When is this? What date?"

"December 25th, 1981." He answered in a flash, murmuring a spell under his breath that held her hands in place and he grinned against her lips as both his hands slipped under her T-shirt, unlatching her bra as he nudged his leg between hers. "I know I shouldn't have… your future self would be very angry with me but I missed you so much, my love. When you left, you said you couldn't come back, that I… that I was going to do something and you couldn't stop it from happening… that… it would keep us apart forever and I couldn't bear it."

"Oh sweet Merlin… Let me go. Don't you understand? I don't know you yet! Finding the turner was supposed to be in my future. I can't help you." Ginny gasped, her thoughts immediately going to Neville and then his parents as the dates began to fall into place and she struggled against him. 

"You have to. You've helped me all my life, Ginevra. You've been everything to me from the day you showed up in the garden and again the next year and then six months after that! All my bloody life, you've been there for me. I've loved you for so long. And you, you never changed, never got older, always looked like this, so beautiful, so perfect. I didn't understand at first, I thought you were an immortal, one of the undead but you walked in the sunlight, you made love with me in my sun-drenched bedroom." He murmured thickly against her hair, his hands sliding up to cup her breasts, kneading firmly and to her horror, a soft whimper escaped her lips. 

The door creaked with their movement and he cursed silently as he reached up to take her wrists once more, canceling the spell to pull her across the room. "And then I saw it, the pendant you always wore, the one you wouldn't let me remove. I saw one in a shop and I bought it. That's when I knew, I knew I could bring you back to me."

Setting her hands on the fireplace mantle, he reset the charm holding her in place and Ginny felt a touch of fear at the firm press of his wand on her shoulder just a second before he banished her clothes. Nudging her legs apart, he tapped both lightly with his wand and she couldn't move them either. Hissing angrily, she said. "Why don't you just _Imperio_ me?" 

"Imperio? Why would I do that, my love? I know what you like. I know everything that turns you on. I know because you taught me, my love. I promise I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to." He purred smugly into her ear as he curled himself against her back, his hand sliding down her stomach to cup her mound possessively. "In fact, I've always rather enjoyed when you begged for me to fuck you."

"Go to hell." Ginny spat out between clenched teeth as his finger parted her soft folds and pushed insistently into her core. Her breath hitched at the intrusion and she struggled to keep from shivering at his warm, dark chuckle in her ear as he began stroking her with his finger, adding a second after a moment, his thumb teasing her clit. His free hand slid up her body to cup her breast, pinching her nipple firmly as he sucked and nibbled his way down her neck. 

"I've endured all these years because you came back, every time, you came back to me. You insisted I obey my family and marry that demoness and I did because you promised you would never leave me. I could accept that, I could give my name to that psychotic woman if you loved me. You will always be my wife in my heart, in my soul, Ginevra." Her breath was coming in short, staccato bursts as he played her body like a violin, teasing her closer to release before stopping and starting once again. His hard cock rested in the cleft of her bottom and he growled lightly when she pushed back against it after yet another frustrating withdrawal of his fingers. She heard him licking them with low, vibrating moans and a soft whimper escaped her lips. His voice purred in her ear, heavy with desire. "What do you want, my love?"

"Let me go." Ginny stammered, biting back a sob of frustration as the head of his cock teased against her wet core. "Oh… Merlin… please…"

"Please what?" He cupped her chin, lifting her head back as he brushed her clit with his thumb, rocking his cock back and forth across her folds.

She shivered, blind to anything but the need for release, and her answer came in a soft sob. "Please… Merlin, help me… please fuck me."

Without hesitation he parted her folds and guided the head of his cock to the wet center of her core, thrusting up hard in one unrelenting motion, sheathing himself to the hilt inside her and held himself there with an aching groan for a moment before he began thrusting as hard and deep as he could, bracing her hips with his hands as he drove into her. 

Her head fell back, lips parted and he caught her mouth in a deep, wet kiss, swallowing her throaty moans. His hands rose to knead her breasts, rolling her nipple as she rocked into the hard strokes of his cock with a whimper. One hand gripped the curve of her thigh, tilting her bottom to let him sink further and his thumb brushed her nub just enough to keep her on the edge without pushing her over. The deep purr of his voice whispered in her ear. "Tell me, my love. Tell me what I must do to keep you forever."

"I'm… I'm not… A toy." Ginny panted on the edge, trying so hard to find release as sweat rolled down her neck from the heat of the fireplace. 

"I love you." Rodolphus nuzzled her jaw with lingering kisses, slowing his thrusts to a languid pace that made her sob with frustration. "I love you more than life itself, Ginevra. You've bewitched me and I never want to wake up without you by my side ever again."

"Please…" She shuddered with the need. "I can't… I can't tell you… it would change time itself and… oh Merlin, please stop teasing me…"

His strokes continued at a deliberate pace but he increased their depth and force, thumbing her nub harder as his free hand tilted her head back. "Come for me, Ginevra. Let me see you come undone for me."

The orgasm shook her to the core, stealing her vision and any sense of control she had as every muscle in her body clenched and shuddered and he teased her body with a practiced hand, nudging her over the edge again and again. Ginny lost all sense of anything outside of his touch, gasping his name softly, and he paused with a shiver, conflicted for a moment before shaking his head. His hands went to her hips and he buried himself inside her in four hard strokes, coming hard. Reaching up, he splayed his fingertips across her temple as she leant against him, dazed and shuddering, unable to disconcert the barely spoken whisper, "Legimens…"

Ginny woke in a sumptuous bed in what looked, in the flickering candlelight, to be the loft of the cabin. The unmistakable warmth of a firm body curled around her back and his arm trapped her tightly to his chest. Try as she might, she could not accio her wand to her and Ginny feared any attempt to slip out from the dark wizard's grasp. A deep chuckle rumbled against her hair when she finally gave up her attempts. "Did I harm you, Ginevra? Do you really fear me still?" 

"I think I could argue dubious consent." She answered sharply, rubbing her forehead to take away the slight ache there.

Rodolphus brushed her hair back from her neck and nuzzled her ear, shifting his leg to nudge hers apart. "There is nothing I have told you that has not been the truth, my love, and while there is nothing more I would like than keep you here, I fear I must let you go… for now."

He tugged her easily onto her back and Ginny started when he lifted the pendant from where it rested against her throat. Her words came with a hesitance she didn't understand. "You're… you are?"

"Mmm, you sound disappointed, my love." He bent his head, catching her mouth hungrily, drawing her into a deep, languid kiss. "But do not worry, we will be together soon, very soon."

"I don't understand." Ginny stammered, watching him accio his wand and her own with guarded caution. She was even more perplexed when he returned their clothing and drew her out of the bed. Lifting the turner, he carefully set the dial and expanded the chain to drape over his neck as well before curling her into his embrace as he set it to spinning.

He drew back from the kiss as the images around them flickered slowly to a halt and, when Ginny opened her eyes, she glanced around in surprise to find they stood on the Quidditch pitch she'd practiced on earlier that day. Rodolphus threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her into a hard, insistent kiss. "I only do this because I must make things right. Know that I long for you with every fiber of my being, Ginevra, and forgive me."

"Forgive you?" She was confused beyond words, unaware of his wand in his hand behind her back as he tucked her own behind her ear with a smile. The last thing she expected to hear him say was, ironically, exactly what he whispered, his intense green eyes holding her gaze. _"Obliviate."_

"Weasley!"

Ginny looked up from where she knelt on the Quidditch pitch stuffing her practice bag with the Chudley Cannons jersey she'd just peeled off. The coach had worked them tirelessly all afternoon and the only thing the youngest Weasley cared about right at that moment was dropping by The Leaky for a firewhiskey and an early dinner before falling into bed.

The sweat dripped down her cheek as she squinted against the sunlight in her eyes at the person who'd called her name. Sighing, she said. "Corrina, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Gin?"

"A few more, Weasley." The blonde pitch girl shot back with a grin, stopping in front of the Seeker, planting her hands on her hips.

Standing, Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and gave the girl a wry look. "What did you need?"

"Oh, I don't but you do. Your husband is here." She pointed across the field to a figure standing beside the team club house with a knowing smirk.

Ginny looked up, a brilliant smile flashing across her lips. "Can you drop my gear in the clubhouse for me, love?" 

"Sure. Go on, you silly thing. Merlin, you'd never know you two have been married for two years. Like a couple of teenagers, really." The blonde shook her head in disbelief as the redhead took off running across the pitch.

Breathless, Ginny fell into her husband's smiling embrace happily, purring. "Rodolphus! Love, this is a surprise. I thought you were in Romania for another day!"

"I was forced to spend too much of my life away from you, my love. I will not be parted from you now." He replied smugly, his green eyes darkening for a moment before he blinked and swung her up into his arms. Pressing a kiss to her lips, he disapparated them away before any passerby could read the headline of the Daily Prophet that was sticking out of his cloak pocket.

_"My parents have always supported my interests and I owe them everything. I can't imagine what my life would have been like without them." Professor Longbottom is quoted in his acceptance speech for his third Order of Merlin today at the Ministry headquarters."_


End file.
